I think that door for this sort of thing opened the first time engineers were introduced into the game. Lets break them into two elements for later analysis: RNG (system used to generate enhancement) and Performance Enhancement (engineering of the ship). This changed the dynamic of the entire game and provided a huge increase in ship performance. I'm Givin' Her All She's Got, Captain! This update affected every aspect of gameplay. The upcoming update is going to add another pip, and this can be viewed as Performance Enhancement, although only if you have multicrew. For the lone explorer this means nothing.
Now, what I'm proposing is actually based on two elements: The first one consists of the lack of content when it comes to exploration and the space madness that kicks in after some time in the void. The second one is the engineers vibe. In every science fiction movie or series, there's an engineer on-board who keeps the engine running and does wonders when it comes to performance. I think that the latest series to do something like this is The Expanse (Epstein Drive, Nagata).
So what is it and how it would work? It would consist of two basic functions: repair and engineering. Repair could be introduced first, to test the whole thing, with the engineering coming at later date (I think that FD infected me, I'm proposing something and already it's a two-tier process) It is a new panel that you can access and it provides a simplified representation (in a first layer) of all the major systems, with all the connections (wiring and everything else) visible and clickable. This would mean that you could repair your ship to 100% without having to dock but it would be time consuming and a bit risky. For example, the screen could prompt you with all the places where the wiring has gone or what elements need replacing and then you would manually had to repair this. It is completely plausible that a ship can be completely repaired without the need to dock, if you had enough time and material. Even now, 3d printing is knocking on that door. *imagine if we got our space legs and had to go our and repair stuff really manually
The second function is the engineering and this would work on the same principle as the engineers. You have the same panel as repair only this time you are trying to tweak performance. Maybe experiment with power distribution, injecting different things into the fuel or altering some operational FSD parameters. This can also be broken down into two elements: element changes - this could be similar to the engineers parameters, and the operational parameters - on the actual use of the element. Perhaps software/hardware is not a fitting description but I think you get it, sort of like overclocking and use of software. First you have to cut power to the systems that you are changing and then when you click to power up the fsd, the RNG roll would take place. Of course, as you are working on some main systems, there's always a possibility that the ship might blow up or something.
The main thing here is how to implement this system into the game without breaking it, meaning that soon enough people are going to figure out a way to max out all the parameters and then share those findings on this forum. This would work in a following way: let's say you changed your FSD, first you cut power to it, then perhaps a mini game of something (like Deus Ex perhaps) that would change some of the parameters, then you power up the FSD and this first roll would be the basis of everything. A set of randomly generated numbers, lets say seven parameters affected. Whatever change you could get would be relatively insignificant, lets say another 0.1 ly for FSD range. The real stuff would begin happening after ten or twenty engineering attempts, where we would have results that are unique to your ship because of so many RNG rolls (first roll with 7 parameters, next may or may not include the first 7...). So you could not go online and say you need to do this and this and you will get the desired result because that effect is based on your unique set of parameters. Sure, some things could be universal, like if you put tin in your fuel you can get better efficiency or something. Of course, all the parameters would have limits set by the FD, so you could not get a 1000 ly range or something.
I think most of us like to tinker with these things and that this update would create a really diverse universe, at least when it comes to ships. Also I think that all the game mechanics are already present and implemented with the appearance of the engineers. The actual work consists of creating an RNG system (mathematical more than anything) and the appropriate UI to interact with, meaning that this could roll out relatively quickly. What do you guys think, and before you answer that question, imagine flying the ship that's absolutely unique in the galaxy. o7
Now, what I'm proposing is actually based on two elements: The first one consists of the lack of content when it comes to exploration and the space madness that kicks in after some time in the void. The second one is the engineers vibe. In every science fiction movie or series, there's an engineer on-board who keeps the engine running and does wonders when it comes to performance. I think that the latest series to do something like this is The Expanse (Epstein Drive, Nagata).
So what is it and how it would work? It would consist of two basic functions: repair and engineering. Repair could be introduced first, to test the whole thing, with the engineering coming at later date (I think that FD infected me, I'm proposing something and already it's a two-tier process) It is a new panel that you can access and it provides a simplified representation (in a first layer) of all the major systems, with all the connections (wiring and everything else) visible and clickable. This would mean that you could repair your ship to 100% without having to dock but it would be time consuming and a bit risky. For example, the screen could prompt you with all the places where the wiring has gone or what elements need replacing and then you would manually had to repair this. It is completely plausible that a ship can be completely repaired without the need to dock, if you had enough time and material. Even now, 3d printing is knocking on that door. *imagine if we got our space legs and had to go our and repair stuff really manually
The second function is the engineering and this would work on the same principle as the engineers. You have the same panel as repair only this time you are trying to tweak performance. Maybe experiment with power distribution, injecting different things into the fuel or altering some operational FSD parameters. This can also be broken down into two elements: element changes - this could be similar to the engineers parameters, and the operational parameters - on the actual use of the element. Perhaps software/hardware is not a fitting description but I think you get it, sort of like overclocking and use of software. First you have to cut power to the systems that you are changing and then when you click to power up the fsd, the RNG roll would take place. Of course, as you are working on some main systems, there's always a possibility that the ship might blow up or something.
The main thing here is how to implement this system into the game without breaking it, meaning that soon enough people are going to figure out a way to max out all the parameters and then share those findings on this forum. This would work in a following way: let's say you changed your FSD, first you cut power to it, then perhaps a mini game of something (like Deus Ex perhaps) that would change some of the parameters, then you power up the FSD and this first roll would be the basis of everything. A set of randomly generated numbers, lets say seven parameters affected. Whatever change you could get would be relatively insignificant, lets say another 0.1 ly for FSD range. The real stuff would begin happening after ten or twenty engineering attempts, where we would have results that are unique to your ship because of so many RNG rolls (first roll with 7 parameters, next may or may not include the first 7...). So you could not go online and say you need to do this and this and you will get the desired result because that effect is based on your unique set of parameters. Sure, some things could be universal, like if you put tin in your fuel you can get better efficiency or something. Of course, all the parameters would have limits set by the FD, so you could not get a 1000 ly range or something.
I think most of us like to tinker with these things and that this update would create a really diverse universe, at least when it comes to ships. Also I think that all the game mechanics are already present and implemented with the appearance of the engineers. The actual work consists of creating an RNG system (mathematical more than anything) and the appropriate UI to interact with, meaning that this could roll out relatively quickly. What do you guys think, and before you answer that question, imagine flying the ship that's absolutely unique in the galaxy. o7